GENEVA: The United States is reportedly planning to withdraw funding for the Gavi vaccine alliance, a move that could lead to over a million deaths from preventable diseases, the organisation’s Chief Executive, Dr Sania Nishtar said.
The proposed funding cut was detailed in a 281-page spreadsheet issued by the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) and sent to Congress earlier this week, as first reported by The New York Times.
The document lists 5,341 grants earmarked for termination, including support for major international aid organisations such as UNICEF, the International Red Cross, Save the Children, Doctors of the World, and Action Against Hunger.
Gavi, which helps vaccinate more than half of the world’s children against deadly diseases, was also named in the leaked document. However, Dr Nishtar said the alliance has not yet received an official termination notice.
“We have not received a termination notice from the US government and are engaging with the White House and Congress with a view to securing the $300 million approved by Congress for our 2025 activities and longer-term funding for Gavi,” Nishtar said as quoted by AFP.
She warned that a funding cut from the US would have disastrous consequences, potentially causing over a million preventable deaths and exposing vulnerable populations to disease outbreaks.
Threat to global health security
Founded in 2000 by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, the World Health Organisation (WHO), UNICEF, and the World Bank, Gavi supports immunisation programmes against 20 diseases, including measles, polio, Ebola, malaria, cholera, and typhoid.
According to the Geneva-based organisation, it has helped vaccinate over a billion children in 78 low-income countries, preventing nearly 19 million deaths.
Dr David Elliman, a children’s health expert at University College London, condemned the reported funding cut as “cruel and utterly misguided”.
“If diseases such as measles and tuberculosis increase anywhere in the world, it is a hazard to us all,” he said, emphasising the risk of disease resurgence and global outbreaks.
Gavi also warned that the withdrawal of US funding would undermine global health security, highlighting that maintaining global vaccine stockpiles against diseases like Ebola, yellow fever, and mpox helps protect the US as well.
“These diseases do not respect borders; they can cross continents in hours and cost billions of dollars,” the organisation stated.
Political decision to ignore science
Critics have accused the US administration of abandoning bipartisan support for global immunisation efforts.
Liza Barrie, who leads the Global Vaccine Access Programme at Public Citizen, described the decision as “a political move to let preventable diseases spread, ignore science, and dismantle the infrastructure that protects us all”.
“The administration is walking away from a $2.6 billion pledge—jeopardising routine vaccinations for 75 million children over the next five years,” Barrie said, adding that the move would lend legitimacy to anti-vaccine extremism.
She also questioned the legality of the decision, noting that Congress holds authority over foreign assistance funding.
“The administration’s attempt to unilaterally walk away from its Gavi commitment raises serious legal questions and should be challenged. Lawmakers must stand up for the rule of law, and for the belief that the value of a child’s life is not determined by geography,” she added.
